Nottinghamshire make it five from five

Nottinghamshire 263 for 5 (Taylor 75, Patel 61, Lumb 54) beat Netherlands 174 (Michael 59, Shahzad 3-26) by 89 runs
Scorecard

Nottinghamshire maintained their 100 per cent start to this season's Yorkshire Bank 40 competition when they pulled off a comprehensive 89-run win over Netherlands at Trent Bridge.

Their fifth consecutive win was set up by the batsmen, with three of the top four passing fifty after the home side had been asked to bat first. James Taylor top-scored with 75 as Nottinghamshire reached 263 for five, with Samit Patel making 61 after Michael Lumb had blazed his way to 54 from 45 deliveries.

In reply Holland were ruthlessly dismantled by a well-organised attack, with Ajmal Shahzad the pick of the bowlers with figures of 3 for 26.

Taylor had arrived in the middle after an opening stand of 60 between Lumb and Alex Hales, who made 21, having already made a score of 108, plus unbeaten knocks of 50 and 39 from his three one-day knocks this summer. Lumb's dismissal, bowled playing an attacking shot to Pieter Seelaar, allowed Taylor and Patel to begin a punishing stand, which produced 112 in eighteen overs.

Despite enthusiastic, agile fielding from the visitors, both batsmen rotated the strike repeatedly and punished anything offered with width as they made the most of a hard, true surface. Patel was also bowled by Seelaar before Taylor eventually fell to Tom Cooper in the final flurry for late runs. Cooper also sent back Riki Wessels before Chris Read and Steven Mullaney plundered 29 in the final three overs.

The highlight of the Dutch reply came from Dom Michael, a 25-year old left-hander from Queensland, who made an unbeaten 59 with little support. Shahzad, on his home one-day debut for Nottinghamshire, blew away the middle order and Michael was still some way short of his 50 when last man Malik Jamil arrived at the crease.

But a pulled four, followed by a mighty six from a Gurney free-hit, took Michael beyond the milestone. Netherlands opener Stephan Myburgh could genuinely claim to have been unfortunate, caught by a stunning diving boundary catch by the sub Sam Wood, which brought a standing ovation.